Brandão leaves Carlo Ancelotti feeling blue as Marseille beat Chelsea

Brandão gets a pat of the head from Lucho González after scoring Marseille's late winner against Chelsea. Photograph: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

Chelsea's conviction continues to wilt. This may have been the least significant of the four defeats suffered in their past eight matches, with the result long since meaningless in the context of qualification, but the sense that this season is veering away from them has been maintained. Confidence has taken another pounding.

Carlo Ancelotti, ashen-faced and desperately downbeat in the immediate aftermath, bemoaned sloppiness up front, had cause to complain over the rejection of two clear penalties but admitted his side will travel to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday with the world expecting them to lose. That is an unfamiliar scenario. "They [Tottenham] are very close to the top of the table and doing well," he said. "They're fit. It will be difficult. Everyone thinks we will lose that game. But we have to consider this a great opportunity, not a problem.

"The bad moment continues but we have to keep going. We've lost some confidence in our play. Now we have to come back and keep going. This is football. You don't always get what you deserve. We mustn't lose composure, character, our ability. We have to maintain confidence for the future. Am I low? No, not low. I'm strong. I want to resolve this problem quickly. I'm focused on my job. I'm sure my players have that same focus."

His monotone suggested even he may be losing faith. This team, once so prolific, have mustered five goals in eight matches, only two of which have been won. Previous managers have been dismissed for less by Roman Abramovich, who seems to crave attacking football, flair and the hoarding of silverware. At present this team suggest they will struggle to provide any of the above.

At the other end there is vulnerability where, only recently, they felt impregnable. José Bosingwa had endured a harrowing evening with Taye Taiwo surging beyond him. Bosingwa's departure before the end clutching his left hamstring will spare him potentially trying afternoons ahead against Gareth Bale and Patrice Evra but Paulo Ferreira, restored to right-back, was immediately skinned in the build-up to the only goal.

That was scored with John Terry already substituted after taking a knock to an ankle, – he should be fit for White Hart Lane – though Ancelotti will have been just as disturbed at his team's inability to retain possession or break slickly, as once they did, with real pace.

"There is no point us panicking," said Terry. "We realise we are not playing as well as we can. The players realise there is a lot more to give and to come."

The public message remains the same, from players and management, after each new setback. Behind the façade, though, concern has long since set in. It should be acknowledged that this defeat arguably owed much to erratic refereeing. Souleymane Diawara, once of Charlton Athletic, twice clearly felled Chelsea players though neither foul prompted the award of a penalty. The official, Vladislav Bezborodov, had pointed to the spot after the centre-half's crude challenge on Florent Malouda, only for an assistant referee to persuade him to change his mind. The award, instead, was a corner. "He gave a penalty, then said Florent dived. But, if that's the case, you have to give him [Malouda] a yellow card," said Didier Drogba. "It changed the game."

The second foul, a trip on the slippery Salomon Kalou, occurred right in front of the additional assistant referee, though again no foul was given. Had Drogba been sharper, or at least not as overcome by emotion at his first return to the Stade Vélodrome since his departure six years ago, then Chelsea might still have prospered. But the Ivorian seemed distracted. "Obviously it was not a good performance from him," added Ancelotti. "Maybe the emotion ... could be, I don't know."

His only effort of note sailed high and wide with his opposite number,Brandão, sharper when his clearest opportunity arrived. Taiwo's cross flicked off Ramires – who continues to labour, sometimes painfully –and both centre-halves, Branislav Ivanovic and the substitute Jeffrey Bruma, were wrong-footed in the six-yard box. The Brazilian was free to steer the shot into the corner.

Defeat was hardly calamitous. Chelsea had claimed Group F by winning their first five fixtures. Yet each time an opportunity to haul themselves out of their nosedive is passed up, the sense of doom and gloom deepens. At present all hope is increasingly being pinned on Frank Lampard making a seamless return to the first team either at Spurs or against Manchester United, having been absent since August. That, surely, is unrealistic with the England midfielder likely to need time to find rhythm but any hint of hope must be seized upon at present. These are troubled times.